---
title: "Building a custom Quadcopter from scratch"
description: "A couple of years ago I started looking at what it would take to make a quadcopter. At the time, I only had the limited tools at the Austin hackerspace available to me (which I…"
canonical: "https://www.baldengineer.com/building-a-custom-quadcopter-from-scratch.html"
author: "James Lewis"
date: "2013-04-21T17:36:51Z"
lastmod: "2022-04-03T16:26:00Z"
image: "https://www.baldengineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Quadrotor-banner1.png"
categories: ["quadrotor"]
tags: ["ardupilot","quadcopter","techshop","turnigy"]
---

# Building a custom Quadcopter from scratch


A couple of years ago I started looking at what it would take to make a quadcopter.  At the time, I only had the limited tools at the Austin hackerspace available to me (which I don't think even has a space anymore).  So I shelved the idea since I didn't see a time effective way to make any of the components.  Fast forward to a few months ago when I joined the [TechShop in Austin](http://www.techshop.ws/ "TechShop - what do YOU want to make?").  Now I have no excuses to not make a [custom Quadrotor](/quadrotor.html "Custom Made Quadrotor – Overview").

This project isn't about building the electronics, senor hardware, or control software.  In fact, we're using the [Ardupilot](http://ardupilot.com) to drive the copter.  Instead it is a collaborative effort with my friend ,Mike, where we are focused entirely on the hardware aspect.  We're using practically [all of the tools in the Techshop in order to make this Quadrotor](/quadrotor.html "Custom Made Quadrotor – Overview").   Prototyping is being done with a [Shopbot (CNC Rotuer)](http://www.shopbottools.com), 3D Printers ([Makerbot](http://www.makerbot.com)), and Laser cutters.  The final components will be made with a metal CNC (Tormac), Waterjet, and probably the 3D printers and laser cutters.

Software like [Autocad Inventor](http://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor/overview), [Vcarve Pro](http://www.vectric.com/products/vcarve-pro.htm), and Illustrator (all available on the computers there) are being utilized as well.

You can check out the [project page for the Quadrotor](/quadrotor.html "Custom Made Quadrotor – Overview") for an overview.  As I learn more about how to make the parts and such, I'll write up posts tagged with Quadrotor.